To whom this may concern:

Community service: an assignment that many students detest. Many say that it's too time consuming, that they have better things to do. Others just don't see the point of providing a service to their community. Whichever side you're on, it all comes down to one question: Should students be required to perform community service? In my opinion, yes.

As a young mind in a world diverse opinions and perspectives, I have seen that the generation I live in has become a "me" generation. In other words, this generation of students has become so selfish and absorbed in their own personal needs, they've forgotten that there are other people in this world who have greater issues that they must face. For example, when students are requested to give money for a charitable cause, such as helping the less fortunate in third world countries, they choose not to. The sad part is that this refusal to help others in need is not because they are uninformed, but because they are so caught in themselves that they are too selfish to even provide for someone other than themselves. As a matter of fact, 87% of students in middle school stated that if they ever had the chance to give back to their community in a simple way, they would not. The point I'm trying to make is that requiring community service of students will push them to lay down their pride and conceit to assist someone else. By doing this, their hearts will be softened and in turn, they will learn the simple joys of serving someone else for a change.

To reiterate, students should be required to perform a community service because it will give them a chance to put their "self love" on low by helping others. The way I see it, students are on one side of the fence, and because they've never left that one side, they have been led to believe that it is all sunshine and rainbows. However, by requiring of them to take the fence down, they will realize that the grass is much greener in the other side. Don't you want to lead your students to greener grasses?

Yours Truly,

Anonymous